-By Katy Bachman

As the critical holiday retail season nears, advertisers are slowly returning to the malls, putting their messages in front of receptive shoppers. According to a report from EYE Corp., a company that offers advertising 250 malls across the country, several categories have significantly increased spending in the second half of the year.

Advertisers in pharmaceutical, insurance and sports have spent four times as much on mall advertising between July and October, compared to the same period last year. Energy and fuel, fashion and communications categories doubled spending. Other active categories include media and television, food, beauty services, education, fashion accessories and healthcare.

Increased spending is coming from both new and returning advertisers, EYE said. “The diversity of categories showing increased advertising spending demonstrates new optimism in the U.S. economy is indeed warranted,” said David Gibbs, CEO of EYE USA. “We’re not seeing growth limited to one or two areas. The ad dollars are coming in from virtually all sectors.

While there is reason to be optimistic, it’s hard to gauge whether the increased spending will translate into growth for the mall segment. “It’s too soon to tell,” said Michelle Schiano, vp of marketing for Eye.

Most forecasts peg the total out-of-home medium will be down about 5 percent in 2009.